Get Involved

In 2022, the Illinois P-20 Council sunset its 5 standing committees and transitioned to a new process for undertaking its work. To ensure that the Council is nimbly able to address the ever-evolving challenges facing the education sector, P-20 will now operate short-term project-based working groups. These working groups are created with specific deliverables in mind and will dissolve upon their completion. This new structure is intended to:

• Promote equity of voice on the P-20 Council.
  •  In a newly formed committee, preexisting power and conversational dynamics are less of a factor in shaping the conversation than would be the case in a longstanding committee. Because the working groups are temporary, there are more opportunities for leadership
• Allow P-20 to explore issues that might not have fit into previous committee structure
  • This also brings together individuals who might have self-segregated into other committees based on their expertise (ie data folks were more likely to be found in the Data, Assessment and Accountability committee than any other)
•  Enable the P-20 Council to respond quickly to emerging issues
• Avoid “mission creep” by establishing clear targets and deliverables 

The P-20 Council is currently running two Project-based Working Group:

Stregthening the K-12 Teacher Pipeline

Cochaired by: Jane Russell (Illinois Federation of Teachers), Dr. Tron Young (Illinois Principal's Association, Joseph Arthur Middle School), and Dr. Jennifer Kirmes (Illinois State Board of Education)

Scaling P-12 Computer Science

Cochaired by: Pia Dandiya (Apple), Charity Freeman (University of Illinois), and Dr. Erica Thieman (Illinois State Board of Education). With support from Jessie Ervin (Illinois State Board of Education)

To join a working group, please email Mackenzie.Eisen@illinois.gov